


Consequences Of Giving

by AuthorA97



Series: Summer of Cartoon [3]
Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: Character Turned Into a Ghost, Gen, Hurt No Comfort, Please Don't Hate Me, Psychological Trauma, Psychology, Science Experiments, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Suicidal Thoughts, Superpowers, Training, Violent Thoughts
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-04
Updated: 2020-06-04
Packaged: 2021-03-02 21:48:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,621
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24493753
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AuthorA97/pseuds/AuthorA97
Summary: She expected the ghost powers. She expected little things about her to get stronger. She hadn't expected the ghost obsessions. Or what happened when she didn't give in.
Series: Summer of Cartoon [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1765324
Kudos: 1
Collections: Spencer Saga Series





	Consequences Of Giving

**Author's Note:**

> Hey y'all! Quick warning. My character thinks a lot about her own deaths, thoughts around death, and violent intrusive thoughts. If anything in here triggers you, please know I am sorry. Feel free to leave a message to me or a comment telling me what the trigger is. If you can do that, then I will properly be able to warn others.  
> Other than that, please enjoy!

Morgan loved  _ Danny Phantom.  _ What 9-year-old kid didn’t?

So who cared that her parents forbade her from watching it? That they explicitly told her not to watch a show that had ghosts in it? Morgan thought that was hypocritical, seeing as Dad liked  _ Ghostbusters _ and _ Star Wars _ (she’d seen ghosts in it- or holograms, it’s hard to say).

She loved the show. Loved the well developed characters, loved the villains, loved everything about it.

Especially when she got her own powers when she turned 10. 

She hid them from her family. They couldn’t know. They shouldn’t know. She didn’t want anyone to know about her powers.

She watched  _ Danny Phantom _ like it was a survival guide. Someone that understood the struggle of hiding her powers from her family.

Morgan loved  _ Danny Phantom. _

Now she had the power to live there.

==COG==

She found herself living in an abandoned house. She was unsure of it at first, but it grew on her. She could work with it. Her hair had changed to a dark brown rather than her usual black, her eyes were still amber so she was fine.

She felt the reality of the world washing over her. New powers bubbled beneath her skin, desperate to claw their way out. They couldn’t be contained. Morgan didn’t want that for them. She would work with that too.

==COG==

Her first use destroyed most of the old furniture.

Her second burned the rest.

Good thing Morgan liked building things.

_ (Frederica Rose, she was Frederica Rose now. She had to remember that. She had no family in Amity Park to remind her.) _

==COG==

Her ghost form had come before long. Her hair was bright red, long and flowing behind her head. Her ghost outfit was a bright red dress, black waist belt with a red ‘R’ on the buckle, and a pair of black thigh high black boots. She liked the look.

She had red plasma rays. If she focused, it changed to bright red electricity strands. Invisibility worked great. So did intangibility and superstrength. She couldn’t feel anything like Danny’s ice powers, Freddy put that idea on the backburner. She had sneezed and created a double, so that’s a positive.

The red motif was a bit overdone...still nice.

She went with it. 

==COG==

A week later, Danny Phantom was born.

Freddy choked on a gasp, clutching to her arms as her entire body felt like she’d stuck a fork in an outlet.

She found her ghost sense.

She didn’t like this.

It messed up her construction of her new couch. She stole it from IKEA, she should get to build it in peace!

==COG==

She had to pretend to be 15.

She had to attend Casper High.

That meant some hacking into the computer system to enroll her as a student, complete with a faked record and grades, she managed it in time.

She hid her powers. Or she tried to during school hours. The body was used to these powers, Freddy had figured out long ago that her body had ghost powers for years. Her mind was less used to them. On top of the struggle of containing her excited powers, she had to pretend to be 15.

Ugh.

Disgusting.

Had to hide her advanced skills.

Hide that she built a self-sustaining engine for her house so she was off the power grid, keeping her from paying electric bills.

Hide that she’d built an electron charger from scraps.

Pretend she hadn’t passed through high school before.

Freddy hated high school.

But the ghost powers made it more fun.

==COG==

When Lunch Lady attacked, Freddy had somehow been a target in the rage.

All she’d done was eat a PB&J from a bag lunch.

Yet this made her Enemy #2? After Sam, who had ruined the menu in the first place.

Freddy shifted into Ruby at Lunch Lady’s first attack. She fired shots towards the older woman, fighting for her right to peanut butter jelly time.

Ruby was spotted in her fight by Danny, Tucker, and Sam. She made sure to get one more attack in before flying away.

She wasn’t ready to meet Danny yet.

==COG==

The second attack Lunch Lady went after Ruby directly.

Ghost sensed halfas, apparently.

Freddy was more annoyed that Lunch Lady attacked before she could finish her breakfast.

==COG==

Ruby had expected the intangibility. The invisibility and all the powers coming with being part ghost.

She didn’t expect the obsessions.

She knew she had an obsessive personality. She had a lot of tics belonging to those with OCD, the subtype of TOCD _. ‘Just-right OCD’ _ , in some circles. She repeated motions, dragging her hand along various objects until every fingertip brushed against it the same amount. She ate finger foods by two. She crossed lines with her left foot. She tapped her fingers in a beat of four. 

She expected those things to be a bit different here.

She didn’t expect things that came instead.

She’d always known she loved helping people.

Ruby took it to an extreme.

She  _ had _ to help everyone. Whenever something happened and she didn’t help, to Ruby it felt like the world had fallen apart.

She volunteered at the local shelter outside of school hours.

She helped in city repairs, anything that she overheard as broken she went to fix.

If she had to be in multiple places, she left a copy to finish it.

She usually had two versions of herself running around. One as Freddy taking classes. The other going around town fixing small issues and problems that she could fix.

She was helping more than her intended focus.

And worse yet, she saw no issue with this routine.

==COG==

Danny tried searching for Ruby everywhere.

Freddy was good at hiding.

She could be in multiple places at once

_ (8 copies at once was a personal best. She knew she could make more, but 8 was the most she could manage at once) _

She always had one Freddy at school. Her human copy would be around acting human as she could. She listened, kept the secret safe. Danny had no idea the red girl ghost was a halfa too, or that she was one grade up.

No matter how much her obsession was telling her to help him, she kept quiet.

She fought herself to protect herself.

==COG==

The dance was here. 

Freddy showed up. She put in effort for a fun night. A short pink party dress that may have been stolen, hair curled by her multiple copies to help, touched up with makeup. Little things. She didn’t wanna make it a whole thing.

Arriving at the party, Freddy went to the bathroom. That makeup might’ve gotten messed up in the flight over.

She had been trying to help Danny all week. She left him a lot of belts in his locker. Left typed notes about how to focus his power so he wouldn’t phase them by accident. It hadn’t helped much. Danny ignored them, not thinking they were important. Sam had noticed- that helped Freddy feel better.

Still. Danny possesses his dad for the dance. Paulina was given the dragon necklace. 

Freddy walked into the bathroom just as Sam started to shift.

_ “SHALLOW WITCH!”  _ Sam snarled.

Freddy ducked out. She quickly changed into her ghost self, making a copy at the same time so she could catch a fainting Paulina. Her human self brought Paulina out of Sam’s range.

Sam roared. 

Ruby floated up, flying at Sam. The dragon growled. 

“Hey! Sam, listen to me-” Ruby began.

“ _ SHALLOW GIRL!”  _ Sam yelled. 

Ruby flew. She grabbed Sam by the neck.

“HEY!” Danny shouted suddenly from behind.

Ruby was already phasing herself and Sam through the wall. Ruby brought them both to the football field. It was the safest space for Sam to vent. She let go of the dragon’s neck.

She felt something tackle her. Ruby yelled as she was pushed to the ground. Turning back, she saw Danny pushing her down.

“Don’t do it! It’s Paulina. She’s not-” Danny excused.

Ruby huffed. “That’s not Paulina! It’s Sam!”

“No it’s-”

_ “SHALLOW GIRL!” _ The dragon roared.

“...yep. That’s Sam.” Danny amended.

“Yeah!” Ruby snarked. She flew up at Sam. “Look at him! Do you want to do this to him right now?” Ruby asked.

Sam snarled, roaring in Ruby’s face.

Ruby held up her hands. She kept them clear of her powers. “You’re scaring him, Sam. He wants to help you but he can’t without attacking you. Is that what you want? For Danny to punch his best friend?”

Sam’s snarl was less ferocious the second time.

Ruby considered that a win.

Danny flew up to her. Ruby ignored him. “I don’t know who you are, but she’s innocent! Sam doesn’t mean-”

“She may not, but her dragon side does!” Ruby snarked. “Distract her!”

“What?! How-”

“She’s  _ your  _ friend!” Ruby instructed. “Find a way!”

Danny hesitated.

“Find one or I  _ make  _ one!” Ruby warned him.

Sam roared. Just because Ruby was expecting it, didn’t make it any easier to have a dragon breathing fire on her. She shifted into intangibility with a tired look up at the dragon.

“Sorry Sam!” Danny yelled. He charged at the dragon.

Ruby held back the urge to slap her face. Ruby flew behind the bleachers, phasing out just in time to ruin Dash’s night.

He and his date screamed like tiny cartoon girls.

Ruby glared in deadpan. Rolling her eyes, she grabbed them both by the scruffs of their clothes. She was able to move them as Danny crashed landed through the bleaches and Dragon-Sam lifted them up.

Dash and his date screamed again.

Ruby had a clone fly them back to the gym.

“Wait- you have _ clones _ ?!” Danny asked.

Ruby ignored that. “You grab the necklace, I’ll distract her.”

“Wait- how did you know-”

“I’m not  _ blind _ .” Ruby countered, just as Danny’s phone rang. “Just move fast!”

She flew up towards Sam.

“Hey! Dragon tails!” Ruby yelled. Sam turned to her, growling. “You’re right, you know! She is shallow! And a witch! A shallow witch! Not even the cool kind of witch, she’s the rude mean kind that gives all other witches bad names.” She babbled.

Sam growled again. But, she had the dragon’s full attention.

Danny was flying towards Sam’s neck.

Ruby would have to work fast. She couldn’t explain how she knew, or why exactly it was so important, but she  _ knew _ that Danny had to be the one to get the necklace off. With or without the Fenton-fisher.

“This is the part where the good guy says they don’t want to punch you! But I wanna punch you!” Ruby shouted.

Sam roared. She blew out green flames.

Ruby easily dodged them. It seems wearing the enchanted necklace didn’t do much to boost the strategic mind. Maybe the person inside it just needed to be better at it? Who knows. She wanted to do research later, but she had to survive the fight now. “I know, I know, stupid thing to say to a dragon.” Ruby offered. “That’s on me. By the way, have you ever considered black scales? They’d suit you better.”

“Shallow girl!” Sam roared.

Danny zoomed between them. He was able to grab the necklace, unhooking it from the dragon’s neck.

Sam roared again. It weakened into a pathetic yawn. She fell to the ground, curling up as she shrunk down and down into a human.

Ruby let herself float just above the ground.

Sam shrunk down to her normal size.

“Well. Another job well done!” Ruby praised herself. “Self-five!” She clapped her hands.

Danny went to his friend’s side. The goth was beginning to wake up. “Who are you?” He asked the red ghost.

“Name’s Ruby Morgue, kid. You’re getting better at this.” She winked at Danny. “Gotta fly.” Ruby let herself fade.

Her consciousness moved to her clone. She was holding a punch cup out towards Paulina.

The popular kid accepted the cup. Before drinking it, Paulina tossed it on Freddy’s dress. “I don’t take things from nerds.” She dashed back onto the dance floor.

Freddy looked down at her dress, mildly annoyed. Blowing out a breath she focused on her powers. A quick intentful intangibility later, the punch fell to the ground.

She decided to watch the rest from the rafters. This era of music was the right kind of dance. She could dance all night with nobody watching.

That was another problem with wanting to hide from someone.

You ended up hiding from everyone.

==COG==

She knew Skulker was coming.

She had been trying to reverse engineer the Fenton tech to make a ghost shield. The only problem was that they hadn’t built one yet. 

Freddy had to improvise for those things. She had a rudimentary ghost shield built, tucked away in her abandoned home. She hadn’t come up with it in time. Yeah she’d built in all the other machines she’d need there but apparently not any ghost prevention so she was screwed.

Now she was being hunted by a hunter.

_ So was Danny. _

Ruby had been working as a double for hours when it happened. Her Freddy copy was at school, doing school things. Ruby herself was out catching all the ghosts Tucker let out.

She had managed to reverse engineer a thermos. That was a bonus for her. She would only have to flush them down the portal later. Sneaking in, easy.  _ FentonWorks _ security was a joke.

She had just captured another ecto-pus when she heard it. The tell-tale noise of Skulker loading his weapons.

She waited where she was, pretending to work calibrations on the thermos. Because even though later in the show his abilities were an overused joke, right now at his hype they would be powerful and meticulous. He wouldn’t let her go down easy.

That didn’t mean she couldn’t have fun.

Of course, just because his character quirks were added later doesn’t mean they don’t exist  _ now _ .

Or maybe Ruby’s hearing was just that good.

She heard the net blast before she felt it. She split herself an invisible copy. It flew to the side. A quick fly up kept her from being hit. She whirled around, facing Skulker. 

“A female! Perfect.  _ Two  _ pelts I can add to my wall!” The ghost hunter threatened. Cause that was definitely a threat. Ruby was being threatened. She didn’t like being threatened.

Her very existence was being threatened. If that was the case, then so were her secrets.

“I’m not putting the lotion on my skin.” Ruby remarked. Her copy was flying behind Skulker. “But someone  _ is  _ getting the hose again.”

The copy flared her hands.

Skulker grabbed her copy by the throat. That Ruby gagged. Skulker threw the copy at Ruby.

“Well I tried.” Ruby dropped down from the attack. Her copy faded away, coming back into being with Ruby. “Bye!”

Skulker fired a blast of his own.

He didn’t make contact. Ruby vanished into her clone in Casper High.

==COG==

They were over the purple gorilla enclosure. Because of  _ course  _ they were. 

Ruby had been chasing another nameless ghost across town. She had  _ grabbed it.  _ She’d held it in her hand.

Then Skulker hit her in the back. She’d lost her own hunt. She was pissed.

Survival instincts kicked in after.

Still pissed.

She was chased all the way to the zoo.

Any chance she had, was lost as she crashed into the purple back gorilla’s cage. The gorilla was not amused by her presence.

==COG==

Freddy woke up- which startled her. She didn’t even remember falling asleep. Why was she  _ ‘waking up’ _ ?

The next few things she realized in quick succession. 1) She was on a bed? 2)It wasn’t her bed. 3) The purple backed gorilla had been really angry. 4) Over people were in the room.

She could hear the other people talking. She pretended to be asleep so she could hear. 

“...just saying, it’s suspicious.” That was Sam. Sam was suspicious. That was normal for her, Freddy didn’t even mind, she understood.

“Come on, Sam! Ruby has powers just like Danny!” Tucker was arguing in Freddy’s favor? She expected that. “Think about all the cool stuff she did. She can tell Danny how to do it without getting punched in the face so often.”

“Think about all the times Ruby  _ ran away _ !”

“Sam. Skulker was hunting Ruby too.” Danny reminded his friends. “She’s a ghost like me. I have to know more. You saw how she fought-”

“The gorilla threw her into the cage!”

Huh. So that’s why her body felt sore...

“Cause Skulker chased her into it! He would’ve taken Ruby’s pelt too-”

Freddy couldn’t take this circular arguing. Her head still hurt from where it had collided with the metal cage. She made a point of groaning, shuffling on the bed like a person naturally waking up.

“Shh- shh! She’s waking up!” Danny scolded.

She sat up in the bed. Rubbing tiredly at her eyes, Freddy shifted around so she was looking at the ghost hunters. She tensed- curling back on the bed. Course it was Danny’s bed (a whole issue she would unpack later) so she fell off.

“Hey, hey it’s okay!” Danny assured her.

Freddy ignored the halfa. “How did I get here.” She ordered.

“She started to let herself phase into invisibility-

“Wait don’t go!”

-when that  _ idiot _ just  _ had  _ to  _ open his mouth. _ She stalled, still holding tight to the side of Danny’s bed. 

“You’re Ruby Morgue?” Danny asked. “

Freddy shook her head, panicking. “I would like to leave please.”

“We just want to talk.” Danny asked.

Freddy made an incredulous expression. “Kidnapping is a good idea for that.”

“We didn’t kidnap you. We don’t even know you!” Sam argued.

“Neither do kidnappers. Granted, standard kidnappings are based off someone who knows the victim but ones that work in the black market circuit-”

“Umm...How do you know that?” Tucker asked.

_ Briefings for my old FBI job. You don get to be in your fifties without finding out the bad stuff in the world.  _ “I read a lot.” Freddy excused. “I would like to leave please.”

“No! Wait. We have questions.” Danny asked.

“I have answers but I don’t feel like giv-”

“Can you teach me?”

And Freddy knew, she knew she was doomed. She knew she was going to cave. She had no other choice. What, was she just going to say no to this poor lost child? This boy that just wanted help? She couldn’t do that- with or without her obsession compelling her.

A part of her- the part that was mostly human, remembered what being human looked like- told her to stay strong. That there was a way she could fight it. It would hurt but she had to do it. She had to fight back against it in whatever way she was given.

“One condition.” Freddy held up a finger.

“Name it.” Danny replied.

“Danny, think it through-” Sam began. “We don’t even know what it is yet.”

“Let me look at your parents lab.” Freddy stated. Danny hesitated. “Nothing bad. Maybe see some blueprints...it’s so cool.”

“Okay.” Danny held out his hand.

Sam grabbed his hand, pulling it back. “We still don’t even know her.” Sam reminded Danny. 

Freddy fought every part of her obsession. She fought the desire to give in blindly, to go into this with anything less than a clear head.

But it was so hard to fight yourself over what made you happy. 

“Freddy Rose.” She introduced herself, holding out her hand. “Nice to meet you.”

==COG==

The Fenton lab was a piece of work. No lab safety standards to speak of, as every surface had some ecto stain. The ceiling included. Freddy hadn’t been asked to wear gloves or a hazmat suit. Nothing was being done for protection.

It’s a miracle it took this long for Danny to die.

Freddy was brought down to the lab by a cautious Danny, Sam, and Tucker. The initial state of the lab annoyed her. Freddy could still work with this.

There was a bit of a search before she saw the blueprints. Freddy gasped in delight, rushing towards them.

She read them fast. There was more arguing between the three, Freddy could ignore that. She kept a small ear out for their words, paying more attention to the designs. There were so many amazing calculations on here.

Freddy loved it.

_ (She didn’t like hearing she wasn’t trusted. Not being trusted meant having to answer questions. Questions that were about her, about her powers. How long until Freddy couldn’t hide her other powers; reality jumping? How long could she keep herself secret?) _

Hey that was the Ghost Weasel!

Freddy read every piece of blueprint she could find. Another device that caught her eye was the infamous Fenton Thermos. She picked it up, looking the device over. She tried to find the power source, hidden away like it was in all the other inventions.

“Hey, don’t mess around with that-” Sam began.

“It’s a ecto powered cylinder that when activated can extend outwards to suck in ghost energy that’s gained form.” Freddy replied, still twisting the Thermos in her hands. “It’s- according to this light, it’s empty. The blueprints said it would flash when a ghost was in it. I have no idea how it feels inside, but based on how the Fentons treat ghosts I doubt it feels good.” Freddy glanced around Sam to look at Danny. “Have you been inside it? Or had any reviews?”

“Well they don’t like it.” Danny answered, rubbing the back of his neck.

Freddy hummed. She looked at the Thermos once more before putting it back.

“Okay. You’ve seen their lab.” Sam stated, crossing her arms over her chest. “You’ve seen their blueprints. Time to-”

The door to the lab was thrown open. Freddy instantly went invisible. The three ghost hunter kids looked up to see Jack Fenton blundering in.

Well, Freddy figured she was still down here. She could keep looking at stuff- as long as she kept herself out of Jack’s sight. She didn’t want to hear his rant about ghosts.

The teenagers were tense, frozen as they panickedly waited for Jack to notice the halfa. To ease their tension, Freddy came back into sight for a quick wave. She changed back when Jack turned towards the portal.

She went invisible every time Jack started turning towards her. She let whatever she was holding change with her, trying to ease the plight of the trio of fourteen year olds. She kept and twisted the device in her hand, looking it over with intensely curious eyes.

Jack was giving the teens his rant about ghosts. Freddy could ignore it to get a better look at their designs for the ghost portal itself.

_ Including the on button that was on the inside. _

In the time she was staring at it, letting herself be horrified that a boy had died not ten feet from where she was standing. That same boy was ten feet in the other direction. 

_ He’s not dead. He’s only mostly dead. _

_ That doesn’t change that what happened was horrifying. _

Jack finished his rant soon enough. He’d only come down to grab the spare vacuum, apparently. He brought it upstairs for cleaning.

Freddy waited until the door was closed before letting herself be seen. “It’s an incredible work of technology. No wonder I could never figure out the sequence, the way they built this is a system I’ve never seen before! To be fair, I never even really thought about it in context like this-”

“You’re in the lab of ghost hunters. You’re not even scared.” Danny noted.

“I’ve seen them fight.” Freddy dismissed with a nonchalant shrug. “As long as I stay out of Jack’s way, or find some way to make Jack ruin Maddie’s aim, I’ll live.”

Sam and Tucker snorted. Danny wanted to be offended on their behalf, but that lack of aim had kept him alive more than once.

_ Even though their invention killed him in the first place. _

Freddy put a smile on her face. “So, Mr Fenton-Phantom...you said you wanted to be trained?”

“Yeah. I don’t know if you’ve seen me fight-” Danny began.

“I have. You’re bad at it.” Freddy deadpanned.

Danny blinked. “Right. And I’ve seen you fight. So I thought it would be better to have someone like me train me. I thought I was the only one.”

Freddy smiled more naturally this time. She understood how he felt. For so long, she’s been the only one of her kind. Nobody else could explain to her how her powers worked, she was going about them on the fly. All Freddy knew was that she could go into the realities she’d seen as on TV or films. 

She knew how it sat in a heart.

If she could help Danny not feel so alone, then the answers of her powers didn’t matter. Her ghost obsession was pleased.

“Okay. Let’s get you trained.” Freddy held out a hand.

Danny accepted the shake.

==COG==

Freddy let herself not be included in the Dash Baxter party shenanigans. There were upgrades she could add to her house in the meantime. Any chance to keep people like Vlad Masters out of her house were positive. 

However, that didn’t stop Danny from inviting her along. Being the pushover for all things asked of her, Freddy gave into the invite.

She sat at the Nasty Burger with the three of them. Sam and Tucker were talking about an amusement park. Freddy was sketching out blueprints for her ecto-engine. Danny was ogling Paulina.

Freddy Rose felt like part of the team.

“Why don’t we get invited to the really cool parties?” Tucker asked. “We’ve got charm, style, good looks. At least I do, anyway.”

“Because you’re all in the high school demographic known as  _ ‘loser freshmen. _ ” Freddy stated. Danny and Tucker glared at her. “You can’t deny it.”

“Don’t mind them.” Sam dismissed. “We’re as invisible to them as Danny in his ghost mode. Even Freddy’s invisible, and she joined us yesterday!”

Freddy nodded in agreement. 

“Not that it’ll matter in five years. Well still have each other, right?” Sam asked.

Dash slapped an invite on Danny’s face. It really cut down on Sam’s thunder. “Your sister made me invite you.” Dash glanced at the rest of the table. Sam and Tucker blinked up at him with hopeful eager eyes. Freddy didn’t care, she was still writing the equation for power input and output so it wouldn’t explode.  _ “Just you!” _

The card seemed to make Danny visible. Other popular kids waved at Danny, greeted him, and talked excitedly about the party. 

“I’ve arrived!” Danny cheered.

“Swell. Send us a postcard from Popularityville.”

“I will!” Danny right out of the Nasty Burger in excitement.

Freddy watched him run. She looked at his friends. “He’s always like that, isn’t he?”

Sam nodded. “Boys.”

“I’m still here.” Tucker reminded them. Both girls gave him a flat stare. “Shutting up.”

Freddy hummed. “He’s probably gonna forget our first training session tomorrow, isn’t he?”

“Knowing Danny? Yes.” Sam answered. She sat back on the booth, an angry look on her face. 

Freddy was going to lie. She had been excited about the training session. There had been a lot of advancements she’d made in her ghost powers that she was excitedly to blather about to the point where Jack  _ and  _ Technus would be telling her to shut up.

“That’s fine. If his head’s not in it, then he shouldn’t train anyway.” Freddy dismissed.

So she spent the next afternoon in training. Alone. Like she always seemed to be.

==COG==

Freddy Rose had half died, in a bizarre circumstance that she was trying to put together. 

Morgan Spencer had died a few times. Truly and completely died.

The first time was when she was younger. She was 26, and was stabbed in the gut. It had hurt. She thought she was going to die, and then she woke up.

The second time she was 37. She had given a spaceship done upgrades, so she was giving it a test drive. The plane crashed, taking her with it.

She died. Then she woke up. 

For a ten year old, dying was scary. Morgan remembered screaming and crying for her parents. She remembered her dad running to her, asking if she was okay. All night she stayed up just sobbing. 

But her parents stopped coddling her. They stayed long enough to be sure she was okay then left. Morgan hated how much she wanted them to stay, to hug her and give comfort and just remind her she was still alive. 

Instead she was left alone in her darkened bedroom. Her sobs turned silent against her pillow.

But Morgan had left that house behind.

She was Freddy Rose right now.

And Freddy had only mostly died.

She was 57 now. She could totally handle stuff like this- she wasn’t a baby that needed to be held.

That’s what she told herself, whenever painful memories made her silently cry in an empty house.

==COG==

Freddy went along to Sam’s place. She had sent out a clone to watch over Danny’s house, giving her the illusion of a peaceful evening. 

“Right, that’s two medium: one pepperoni and one veggie. Put it on my tab.” Sam ordered the pizza as she opened the door.

Freddy admired the inside of Sam’s house. It almost made her wanna steal some shit to make her house look nice. Then again, Freddy liked her house the way it was.

“Hey Tucker, hey Freddy.” Sam greeted, closing the door behind them.

“I hope they hustle. I’m starved.” Tucker replied.

Someone knocked on the door. Sam opened it, revealing the pizza boy.

“Here’s your pizza, Sam.”

“Thanks Nate.” Sam grabbed the pizza boxes. She handed the delivery boy money.

“$10? Thanks Sam.” The delivery boy left with his tip.

“You tipped the guy a ten-spot?” Tucker pointed out.

Sam had to pretend to be shocked. “Whoops! Sorry. Thought it was a $1. Come on, we’re watching movies downstairs.”

“Oh then I can take the pizzas.” Freddy lifted the two boxes out of Sam’s arms. She went intangible, sinking through the floor to the movie theatre basement. “I’m totally doing this to my house. I could fashion a movie projector...used it on a blank wall. The windows can be painted over. It’ll look great.”

Her musings were put on pause by Sam and Tucker coming down. Tucker gawked at it.

As Sam explained her family’s fortune, Freddy went about getting snacks ready. The Mansons didn’t have paper plates, just the glass plates. Even the buckets for popcorn were fancy. Freddy nearly felt bad as she went about making everything.

Tucker sat himself down in one of the recliners. Freddy handed Sam a plate for her veggie pizza slices.

“Thanks Freddy. You didn’t have to do that.” Sam replied.

Freddy waved her off. “It was no trouble. I like helping people.”

“Is that just...a half ghost thing?” Sam asked. 

Freddy thought about one half ghost who seemed very eager not to care about anyone. Someone that let his obsession reflect on every part of his life. A man that ignored all the amazing things he had, looking with envy on what he didn’t. And then she thought Freddy Rose would have no idea about Vlad Masters.

“Maybe? I don’t know. It’s just how I am. Even before...this.” She gestured to all of her, as she brought Tucker his own plate and a small popcorn bucket.

Her response had unintentionally made things awkward. Sam and Tucker knew she was part ghost, just like their friend. The only difference was they had seen Danny die. They hadn’t seen how Freddy got her powers.

Freddy who had been Morgan had no idea either. She only had vague recollections from nightmares. 

“How did you get your superpowers?” Tucker asked.

Freddy stalled, her hand outstretched with another popcorn bucket. 

Sam grabbed the bucket. “Freddy?” She prompted. “Everything okay?”

Distantly, Freddy heard their voices. Their questions were expected. Their questions aren’t anything she was asking herself.

Still...Freddy was so afraid to remember. The memories she only experienced in painful dreams.

“Freddy?” Sam prompted again.

Freddy shook her head, forcing herself back in the present. “Oh you know. Just sneezed at the wrong time. Never swallow in a sneeze, it always goes wrong.”

That got the other teens laughing. Freddy laughed, the tension easing from her. 

She had kept her secret hidden for just that little bit longer.

==COG==

Sam brought out an all-in-one remote. She’d bought it from Danny’s garage sale. Freddy hadn’t felt anything ghostly from any of it.

She could feel it now.

So could her ghost sense.

Freddy shuddered in her seat, buzzing like she’d been hit with a joy-buzzer. Sam and Tucker noticed. Across town, her clone had found Dash’s computer infected. 

“Freddy?” Sam asked. “What was that?”

“Ghost sense.” Freddy wheezed out. She glared at the remote. “Danny said he caught a ghost, a technology ghost, that it blew up in the lab. Yes?” She stood to attention, taking a fighting position towards the remote.

Sam hopped out of the chair, holding her hands up. Tucker followed suit. “Yes? But he said it exploded.”

“A  _ tech ghost _ exploded over _ tech. _ ” Freddy pointed out to them. Sam and Tucker blanched. “That Danny has just sold  _ all over town.” _

“So everything Danny was selling is contaminated by ghost stuff?” Sam asked.

To prove her point, the remote glowed green. It floated up in the air.

“This looks like a job for Danny Phantom.” Tucker stated.

Freddy cleared her throat. “Thanks, Tucker.”

“And-! I forgot your ghost name.” Tucker admitted.

She rolled her eyes. She shifted to her ghost self, charging her hand with a plasma blast. Without hesitation she hit the remote. It exploded into mechanical parts. The parts flew up to the ceiling, phasing through.

Ruby prepared to fly after them. A quick check showed her clone trying to fight Technus’ computer self. It wasn’t going great. “If everything is going bad, I’ll have to go out there and fix it. Danny might not have noticed yet.”

“Such a shame for it to interrupt his big jock party.” Sam mocked.

Ruby smirked. “Yes. A shame. Especially since Dash’s computer got infected by the tech ghost, complete with upgrade disk.”

Sam was less smug now.

“He’s lucky I sent a clone to watch him.” At their looks, Ruby glared. “My paranoia paid off, shut up! Anyway I can just fade into it-”

“Wait! We want to help Danny.” Sam argued.

“Yeah. He’s our friend.” Tucker agreed.

Ruby commended them. Or she would later, when Technus was gone. “Fine.” She held up her arms. “Grab an arm. You guys are getting the express lane.”

==COG==

Her consciousness moved to the clone. Ruby fired another blast at Technus just as Danny walked in. He jumped back at the ghost tech.

“What the-?!”

“First lesson of ghost fighting!” Ruby kicked a power drill back. “ _ Don’t give out ghost tech when fighting a tech ghost!” _

The distraction to teach Danny gave Technus time to form. He cackled in the room. Ruby was surprised nobody downstairs heard it. “I am Technus, Master of all things Mechanical!” Ruby rolled her eyes at the showboating. “And once I complete my construction, you will all succumb to my awesome pow-” His computer screen glitched. “Ow-ow-ow! What is  _ wrong  _ with me?”

Danny spotted the issue. “The upgrade! Dash still hasn’t upgraded the software.” He told Ruby.

“Okay. So we gotta play keep away.” Ruby nodded. “I can do that.”

Danny nodded in agreement. He glared at Technis. “You heat that? You’re not getting that upgrade-”

Ruby slapped her hand over Danny’s mouth. “Second lesson: don’t give the other team  _ ideas.” _

“What?” Technus laughed when he spotted the CD case labeled  _ ‘upgrade’ _ . “Another great idea! Forget torturing, you should be a teacher!”

“I am!” Ruby yelled. “And I believe in learning on the job!” She rushed at the CD, grabbing it.

Technus fired a blast at her. Danny leapt in front of it. It sent him into the closet. 

Ruby countered another attack, throwing it back at Technus.

“You are formidable opponents, but a little wet behind the ears!” Technus yelled. 

“Well I heard water was bad for tech.” Ruby argued.

“You could use a little drying off!” Technus activates the dryer in his chest. Ruby would yell at Danny for selling a dryer in a garage sale later. 

Ruby was dragged into his chest. Once there he started spinning her around. She grabbed the cable that dragged her in. Technus tried to eject her, so Ruby lit up her hands with lightning.

Technus cried out. 

Ruby took it a step further. She phased out of the dryer, still holding the cable. She dragged Technus outside, throwing him up the road. 

Technus only laughed as the other bits and bobs of ghost tech attached themselves to him. Worse yet, one bit of it was the upgrade disk.

When this was done, Ruby was going to  _ beat  _ Fenton into the  _ dirt _ .

==COG==

After a long while fighting, Danny was able to defeat Technus. With the help of his friends. Freddy got that the friends were trying to make a point, however she was thrown into a wall more times than was necessary.

Like  _ geez _ .

Make your point after beating up the blathering tech ghost.

They had gone back to Sam’s house to laugh off the fight. Freddy had to admit their plan went great. That didn’t make the bruises hurt any less.

Danny accepted the plate of pizza. Freddy smiled, picking up a new bucket of popcorn. She’s grateful she stopped the haunted remote before it broke the popcorn/soda machine.

“Hey, Freddy, I never got the chance to apologize.” Danny told her. Freddy paused, giving him the chance to apologize. “You agreed to help me get better at ghost fighting. Instead, I ignored you and got myself in a lot of trouble.”

“You did, yes.” Freddy agreed.

Danny nodded. “So...can we try again on training?”

“Sure thing.” Freddy answered without hesitating. “First lesson: dodge.”

“Dodge-?  _ Oof _ !” Danny has a slice of pizza smashed into his face.

“You have failed your first lesson.” Freddy informed him. “Your second lesson will be on the origins of your ghost powers.”

Danny wiped pizza off his face. “Origins? I got them from a lab accident.”

“The on button on the inside, yes I noticed that in the blueprints.” Freddy walked herself over to a chair. Danny took the one beside her.

Apparently, her bringing up the portal made things go quiet. Sam had paused the movie. All three teens were looking at Freddy with trepidation.

Freddy tilted her head. “A sore subject?”

“How could you tell it was the Fenton Portal that gave me my ghost powers?” Danny asked.

“The state of your parents lab is a train wreck.” Freddy replied. “There wasn’t much lab safety to go on. Your ghost suit resembles a hazmat suit, albeit not one I saw in their lab. The blueprints showed a button on the interior of the portal. Given that nothing else in there has the juice to give you those powers, it makes sense that it was pushing that button and activating the portal that made you Danny Phantom.”

“How did you figure that out?” Sam asked. “It’s a leap.”

Freddy shrugged. “It’s a skill. I know everything.” She explained. “But even then, the ghost portal gave him powers but it was Danny that chose what those powers were.”

“No I didn’t?” Danny replied. “I just ended up with all of them with no idea what to do.”

“A ghost is a complex working of the innermost thoughts of a person.” Freddy explained. “You didn’t consciously choose the powers, not like you think.”

“Still don’t get it.”

“...you know when you play a video game, and you have to pick the stats of your avatar?” Freddy explained.

“Yeah?”

“It’s like that.” Freddy reasoned. “Your choosing is more like focusing on those specific traits you want enhanced. Skulker focused on hunting, so his powers allowed him to build a suit and hunt with them. Without the suit, he’s small and weak like the prey he so hunts. Lunch Lady is obvious: focused on food and foodstuff. Technus wanted to be the master of all technology. If I have to explain Box Ghost, I’m killing you permanently.”

“What about my powers? I wasn’t focusing on anything.” Danny questioned.

“Yes you were. I watched those fights, I know you were.” Freddy corrected. “Think about it. When you got these powers, what was the first thing you decided to do?”

“...panic?”

“After that? How did you want to use them?”

“I didn’t want to do anything with them...I mean, that ecto-pus came through so I had to fight it-” Freddy clapped. “Wait seriously? That’s it?”

“Of course it is! Your powers are growing because you’ve figured it out! You have a focus, a goal. You want to protect people from ghosts. So your powers are attacks and defenses for that purpose. Ecto blasts and charges, increased speed and strength, flight, invisibility, and phasing through walls.” Freddy explained.

“But you can duplicate!” Tucker pointed out. “Danny can’t do that. Wouldn’t being in multiple places help him fight?”

“Not if he can’t focus on each individual clone. My powers built off the basis of helping others, and keeping my secrets safe. I can duplicate myself and maintain those copies, like someone maintaining multiple secret identities. Between them, I can move my consciousness between them at will. It helps keep my secrets safe if I can hide who and where I am at any given moment. My attacks are sharp and fast, perfect for a quick and effective getaway that doesn’t blow half a city block.”

“My bad.”

“It’s fine. You’re learning. Even Superman broke some buildings.” 

“Really?”

“He’s Superman. He totally did.” Freddy scoffed.

They spent the rest of the night talking about Danny’s powers. Freddy loved it. She wondered if this is what it felt like having friends.

==COG==

Funny enough, her speech only made Tucker more eager to have ghost powers.

He still gave them up after- but Freddy’s point had been made. She just liked making it far enough away so that she didn’t get sick.

==COG==

Freddy had dealt with bullies of all shapes and sizes. Little kids on the playground, calling her a freak and a weirdo. Big men in the workplace, thinking that Freddy was weak cause she was a girl.

People were always quick to call Freddy the weird one. Or the freak. The thing that wasn’t like them. Someone liked Freddy definitely wasn’t human. They called out her weirdness, trying to shake her.

Freddy was used to her weirdness. She hadn’t thought anything negative about it until someone asked.

_ ‘Why don’t you play with your friends?’ _

_ ‘I don’t have any.’ _

At eight years old, that wasn’t a normal answer. Not that Freddy was never normal.

==COG==

Sidney Poindexter was the most stereotypical nerd that making fun of him wasn’t even funny. Freddy actually thought he was funny.

_ “Put an egg in your shoe and BEAT IT, BULLY!” _

Like come on. Danny should’ve just powered out from that brutal attack. Freddy was curious how he was still alive.

Still, she didn’t do much in his fight. She just watched. She’d seen the damage all around the school, watching the fight would suit her for later.

When Danny and Sidney switched, she did nothing. 

When Sidney used his ghost powers for his own gain, she did nothing.

She waited. She watched.

It was only when Sidney had used his powers too obviously that Freddy stepped in. She used her own powers to drag him off the field, flying them down into the basement of the school.

“Hey! What are you-”

“Sidney Poindexter, you and I need to have a chat.” Freddy scolded.

The ghost gasped. “Hold on- you’re the other halfa! The girl!”

“Yes.” Freddy replied. She put her hands on her hips to glower at the nerd in disappointment. “What are you doing? Using your powers like you are?”

“I’m making it up to that poor kid!” Sidney argued. “The one that boy halfa bullied!”

“That’s not all you did.” Freddy pulled pictures out from her bag. She showed them to Sidney. “Here’s the cafeteria at lunch time, right when you first arrived. I checked, this happened when you used your powers.”

Every kid in the cafeteria had food smashed in their face. The food was flying about, catching the kids that were just trying to hide.

The next picture has broken glass all over the science lab. Mr Lancer was thankfully unharmed by the attack. 

“You did this to them, Sidney.” Freddy scolded him. “You were the bully.”

Sidney gasped in Danny’s body. “No I didn’t! I’m- I’m not a bully! You are!”

Freddy gave him an unamused look. “You took over Danny’s body, are ruining his life by ignoring his friends and befriending his bullies, and I’m the bad guy for proving it to you?”

“I’m not a bully!”

“You’ve stolen a child’s life. Is there another definition of a bully that you know?” Freddy asked.

“Hey! He was the bully first!”

“So that makes it okay for you to ruin his life? To take away his friends?”

“I’m stopping the real bullies!”

“Dash Baxter pushes kids into lockers. Kwan does the same thing. How do you think Danny got your locker in the first place? They wrecked his last one after pushing him in it.”

“You’re lying!”

“Check. Danny can be reckless and cruel, but not at the scale of Dash and Kwan.” Freddy argued. “You’ve been near his locker since Dash first came here. Don’t tell me you haven’t noticed.”

“I don’t have to listen to you.” Sidney warned. His fists started to glow.

Freddy knelt down on the ground, holding her hands up in surrender.

Sidney paused at that. “What are you doing?”

“I’m no bully.” Freddy countered. “I won’t fight you- this is all a misunderstanding.”

“No, no you are a bully! You’re trying to trick me!” Sidney yelled. But he didn’t sound as sure as he did before.

Freddy shook her head. “I want my friend back. His family will want him back. You know he has a human family, yeah? They’ll want their son. He’s only fourteen, Sidney. He should come home.”

Sidney powered down his fists. “He’s a bully. I saw him- he gave that kid a wedgie.”

“He’d felt powerless against Dash for ages. He finally had the chance to take that power back.” Freddy excused. “Don’t tell me if you had ghost powers back then, you wouldn’t have done the same.”

Sidney shook his head. “No! I wouldn’t have. Being a bully is wrong!”

“So sending Danny to be bullied by your classmates, that’s okay?” Freddy countered.

Sidney was stunned silent.

“Bullying is fine- as long as it’s not your fists?” Freddy asked. “Let someone else bully him for you. You threw him into a situation where he’ll be bullied constantly, without end. You hit kids with their own lunches. You broke school property. As far as I’m concerned, you’re the bully, Sidney.”

==COG==

“How’d you get him to trade us back?” Danny asked. He was shaking out his arms, getting used to feeling his real body again.

Freddy smiled innocently. “I talked with him for ten minutes.”

“Seriously? That’s what it took?” Tucker asked. 

Freddy smiled less innocently, showing off her teeth. There was a mad glint in her amber eyes. “I’m a great negotiator.”

==COG==

There was a letter on her doorstep.

Freddy was not used to having mail. She had no bills to pay. The electricity was all generated in-house. Her water was bought in bottles at the store. Everything that would’ve been a bill, she’d made a solution.

She doubted it was a complaint about someone being in the house. Squatters were mostly ignored until someone claimed the building. 

Nobody even knew where she lived. Casper High sent all that mail to a PO Box.

Point is: she shouldn’t have mail.

This was the wrong time, as last night she had fought ghost vultures so Danny could make it home before curfew, Freddy didn’t like that she was getting mail. He had been doing better in training. Freddy had taught him a lot of the basics in regular fighting as stepping stones for more complicated moves. There was always the Box Ghost for practice until he was ready for the big ones.

Big ones like Vlad Plasmius. One that not even Freddy herself thought she was ready to fight.

She ignored the letter. There was no reason to pay attention to them. Freddy had no intentions of meeting Vlad Masters for a while yet.

==COG==

Apparently it was rude to ignore the letters.

Or so Skulker was telling her, stuffing her into a box to nullify her ghost powers.

_ Somehow, a Fenton was responsible for this. _

==COG==

She woke up in a lab.

Well no. Actually she woke up on the road, mid flight. Skulker kept zapping her with the box until she went back to sleep.

When she woke up and was allowed to stay awake, she was in a lab.

Danny was screaming her name.

It woke Ruby right up. Only any time she tried to change, the box disrupted her powers. She was enraged. A ghost that worked with lightning, being disrupted by electric shocks. This was humiliating.

“Freddy!” Danny called out again.

Left in just her human body, Freddy kicked at the sides of the box. They didn’t give under her kicks.

“What are you doing here?!” Danny asked.

Freddy opened her mouth to answer. Something behind Danny caught her eye. “Get down!” She warned.

Danny dodged an attack from two ectopuses.

Freddy’s head was so fuzzy. She was trying to focus, trying to come up with something to help her escape. Her brain was only able to shout at her. It scolded her for not helping him, for not doing more than shouting at him to dodge.  _ Why hadn’t she done more to help? _

_ She should have.  _

_ She could always have done more. _

_ What a failure, can’t even teach a fourteen year old boy how to fight. _

_ Pathetic. She was pathetic. _

She was fighting off those thoughts. They weren’t any help right now. She had to focus on helping herself, then she could help Danny.

Danny got put into a box before she could do anything. Her ghostly core  _ cried _ . Freddy kept her face blank.

“Are you okay?” Freddy asked him. Danny struggled against the box. “Your powers won’t work. Mine can’t.”

“How is this possible?!” Danny asked. 

“That’s not all it can do.” Skulker informed. When had he shown up? Freddy supposed it was somewhere in the middle of her mental breakdown. He pressed buttons on the side of Danny’s box.

He screamed as he was forced to shift back.

Freddy yelled, twisting and turning in her box. Pity the box could float.

Skulker just laughed. He pushed out a large green sword from his arm, holding it to Danny’s throat.

“Hey! Let him go!” Freddy yelled at him.

Skulker just scoffed. “Don’t worry, you’ll get a turn.”

“We never finished our fight. Let’s finish it now. Let me out now!” Freddy challenged.

Skulker actually looked convinced to do it. And because the universe was laughing at her, Vlad Masters walked in. 

“Enough!” He yelled. Skulker stopped, pulling his sword back. “I didn’t free you to kill the boy or the girl, Skulker. Your work is done.”

Skulker pouted. “Yes, well I-.” Tucker’s PDA pinged on his arm. “Gotta get to the library to check out a book on the purple back gorilla. Again!” He floated off through the ceiling.

Freddy turned her head to Danny. “Explain.” She prompted.

“He’s my dad’s classmate from college, he sent those birds we fought the other night to kill my dad.” Danny answered.

“And I’ve been dragged here because?” Freddy asked. 

“Skulker, the ectopusses, I don’t understand either!” Danny explained. 

“Of course you don’t. You’re what, fourteen?” Vlad scolded. “Too young to drive, not in college yet. I sent those ghosts to test your father’s skills. Imagine my surprise when I find him, the  _ second ghost hybrid his foolishness created _ .”

“Second?” Danny asked. “Freddy, he made your powers?”

“Danny you complete simpleton.” Freddy scolded. “He’s clearly talking about himself.”

To prove it, Vlad Masters changed from a white haired man in a black three piece suit to a blue vampire ghost with a white cape. Freddy also thought the hair shaped as horns was a bit much. 

“You! The ghost I fought last night!” Danny growled. “I’m goin’ ghost!”

Freddy snacked her head down against the box. She couldn’t facepalm, this was the best she could do. 

“Why can’t I go ghost?”

“You have a battle cry- hilarious. I, on the other hand, have this!” Vlad tapper the boxes imprisoning the younger halfas. “A spectral energy neutralizer, designed by Skulker, paid for by me.”

“The electric shock isn’t proper electricity. It’s ecto energy which operates at a different frequency.” Freddy reasoned. “I wondered why I was feeling electrocuted.”

“I thought you weren’t supposed to give ideas!” Danny yelled.

“That’s not an idea, that’s a praise.” Freddy countered. “And I’m not supposed to do that either.”

“Shut up and listen!” Plasmius scolded. “As long as you are stuck in those boxes, you’re as human as the boy’s idiot father!”

“Hey!” Freddy yelled. “I’m not idiotic!”

“Let me out of here!” Danny screamed.

“That too!”

“Why, so you can go back to stumbling through your adolescence desperately trying to get control of your powers?” Plasmius countered. “Powers, by the way, that I’ve had for 20 years.”

Freddy wanted to hiss at him. 

“I have experience, my children.” Plasimus showed off some of his ghost powers to create an ecto shield. “And the money and power attained through using those powers for personal gain, you see.” He triplicated himself. “I could train the both of you. Teach you everything I know! And all you’d have to do is renounce your father.”

“Dude. You are one seriously crazed up fruit loop.” Danny answered without hesitating. “ _ That  _ is never going to happen. I already have someone training me, and she’s doing way better than  _ you.” _

“Her? You think  _ she’s  _ living off any better than  _ me _ ?” Vlad scoffed.

“Drop it.” Freddy warned them. 

“She’s used her powers just like I have!” Vlad argued. Freddy glared at him, to the point where if she had her powers her eyes would be red. “That’s right. I’ve done my research on you- I’ve seen how you use your powers. You’re just like me.”

“I help people.”

“The people you lie and steal from.” Plasmius countered. “Go ahead, Frederica, tell him where you live.”

Freddy was silent.

“With her family. Like I do.” Danny argued.

Plasmius laughed. “Well?”

Freddy stayed quiet.

“Freddy?”

“She’s homeless.” Plasmius explained. “Everything in her home is a stolen good. She’s gotten each and every bit with her ghost powers. At least I’m still using my name. She’s lying about her’s! Frederica Rose doesn’t exist. And you still think  _ she’s  _ better than  _ me _ ?”

Freddy Rose stayed quiet.

Morgan Spencer was about ready to kick out a tooth. “I’ll get out of this box, you know, and the first thing I’ll do is kick your face until it’s green.”

Plasmius only grinned. “Yes, well, once his father is out of the way, we’ll see how you both feel.” Cackling, he faded away.

Freddy watched the ecto echoes he left behind. She watched them until they faded, unwilling to look Danny’s way.

“Is there a way out of these?” Danny asked, struggling against the box. “Freddy?”

Nothing. The girl halfa said nothing, slouching now against the neckhole of her box. 

“Freddy, I don’t believe what he said.” Danny told her. “Come on, we need to-”

“He was right. I am a thief.” Freddy answered, unrepentant. “I lie and steal and cheat. But only enough for what I need to live. Nothing more. Nothing like billionaire Vlad Masters, apparently.”

“Was he right about your name?” Danny asked. Freddy hesitated too long. “He was.”

“I’m not her anymore. I would much rather be Freddy Rose.” Freddy insisted. Even just thinking about her normal life hurt, thinking about all the lying and pain she’d gotten because nobody ever believed her about her powers. Everybody saw what they wanted to see: a stupid little kid telling stories. “Some people aren’t happy in their own home, so they run away because it’s better for them.”

“Better to live on the streets?”

“Better to not be in their house.” Freddy countered. They were her family, she loved them so much. That didn’t mean she had to like staying there, that staying there was good for her. What good was it being around people that never believed in you, that talked down to you, that only called you a liar and an idiot.

Freddy Rose didn’t want to be in that house.

Morgan Spencer missed that house with a pain that felt like dying.

“You wouldn’t understand.” Freddy dismissed. “Just please...understand I don’t want to go back. Even less, do I want to stick around this fruit loop for one more second.”

This time, it was Danny keeping quiet. Freddy was good at pretending it didn’t hurt. She had a whole childhood of experience for that.

==COG==

The ghost of the Dairy King let them out of the boxes. Freddy shifted into Ruby as Fenton shifted into Phantom.

Ruby was the first to chase after Plasmius. He had  **_exposed_ ** one of her secrets. He had  **_broken_ ** something that wasn’t his to  **_break_ ** . That secret was her’s to tell as her leisure, not a bargaining chip to lure her to his side.

**_He had betrayed her, all in the name of wanting her as an apprentice._ **

**_He shouldn’t have given her truth away._ **

Ruby never liked the people that did that.

There was a fight. It was all a rage fueled blur, reminiscent of the Berserkers of Norse myths. Danny was involved at one point. So was his dad. Maddie crashed in with the RV. Ruby didn’t care. 

**_Plasmius had ruined her life-_ ** had told people  **_about_ ** her life.

She heard Danny talking to her at one point. She wasn’t completely sure. Something about...about being a good person. Or maybe just trying not to kill Plasmius. It could’ve been anything.

Still...he had asked.

Ruby Morgue could never say no to Danny Phantom when he asked. Plasmius, however, could get  **fucked** .

==COG==

Danny didn’t tell her secret.

He came by her house. In the spirit of good faith, Freddy invited Sam and Tucker too. The little townhouse that was left abandoned, where Freddy had taken root. They all saw her living room, with fresh made stolen furniture and just a house that didn’t look as well lived in as it should.

Freddy gave no arguments. This was her home, she’d made it all on her own. She was proud of it. Nothing Plasmius had said would convince her that living with him was better.

The teenagers just looked at all of it. They had questions, as anyone would. Freddy dismissed most of Tucker’s, as they were all about letting him stay over. Freddy wasn’t nearly stupid enough for that. 

But she told them where she lived, revealing that she had lived alone for a long time. It was her life, she was the only one who had the right to reveal any of it.

Danny, Sam, and Tucker reacted in a way she hadn’t expected. They didn’t cast her out, or yell at her for her tricks or thieving. They were excited to have a new place to hang out.

Danny was less excited when Freddy pointed out this was where they would train from now on. Sam and Tucker were a lot more excited at that. 

==COG==

Despite how often she broke it, Freddy loved the law. For most of her twenties, she was a federal agent. In her teens she was salutatorian in her class at Harvard. Working in law enforcement was, like, the  _ dream _ . She got to help people  _ while getting paid. _

However strong her love, she also loved  _ exploiting the hell out of it.  _ She loved and respected the spirit of the law. Still, Freddy could work around the law to get better results while still following the law to the letter.

In order to know the loopholes, she needed to know what she was working with. That meant she needed the ghost law book.

She didn’t get to be a salutatorian by passing by her work. She  _ pushed  _ for her grades, worked hard as shit on them. 

Freddy knew where to find a ghostly library. That would give her all she needed.

Sure, the Ghost Writer didn’t exactly like her intrusion. Freddy had to admit she just wanted to read the laws. In exchange for the most recent law book, she had to give Ghost Writer a book he didn’t have. That was easy- every book in his library was written by someone currently dead or a Ghost Writer themselves. 

Freddy could appreciate the humor.

She studied the fuck out of that book. She’d been studying it the entirety of her time here in this reality.

It would come in handy.

==COG==

Ruby Morgue found the ghost jail with ease. Shifting into her ghost form, she was able to walk up to where Danny and Walker were to just knock on the door.

It opened to an irate ghost prison guard. “Who are you? How did you get inside my prison?” Walker hissed.

Ruby stepped into the small room. She saw Danny chained to a chair, dressed in black and white prison stripes. 

“I’m his lawyer, here to find out why I wasn’t notified that my client was arrested.” Ruby reported easily. “Unless, they  _ weren’t  _ given a trial?”

Walker glared at me. “He broke the rules. Letting him go is against the rules. Like I just told him, it’s a first offense so I’ll let him out in a thousand years.”

“Which rule allows him immediate incarceration and imprisonment for 1000 years?” Ruby questioned.

“Trespassing, loitering, creating a disturbance, and in possession of real world contraband.” Walker listed.

“And just what was this contraband?” Ruby pulled out a glowing green book, about as thick as Danny’s entire school book collection. “There are three sets of contraband according to the Ghost Zone Law Book. The Rules, as you call them. On page 25, there are the list of what counts as contraband. Was it section A: human weapon that would threaten a ghost’s non-life, the existence of the Ghost-Zone itself, or it’s leaders?”

Walker looked like he’d rather not fess up to that. “No. But that’s-”

“Was it section B: human foods or foodstuffs that cannot slash should not be brought into the biosphere of the Ghost Zone for fear of contamination of our own foods or foodstuffs? Especially the plant known as  _ ‘blood blossoms’ _ , poison to any ghost?” Ruby questioned, reading off from the book.

“No.”

“Section C: a kidnapped human, entrapped in the Ghost Zone without previously having consumed our foods or foodstuffs, therefore a human not a legal citizen of the Ghost Zone?” Ruby asked, glancing up at Walker with a still way to flat stare. Since she was talking about whether Danny would walk free or not, that was kinda a big deal.

Walker hissed. “You listen here, punk-”

“Warden, I can assure you I am no punk by either definition.” Ruby interrupted him. “I am not a worthless person, nor am I in poor or bad condition.”

Walker was clenching his teeth so tightly, Danny was surprised they hadn’t cracked. “He broke the law. He has to serve time!”

Ruby turned to another section of the book. “Ghost Zone Law Book Amendment Number 285, taken into account by Clockwork from the American legal system in the timeline where they declared independence:  _ We the Ghosts of the Ghost Zone, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this law book for the Ghost Zone _ . Meaning: my client is entitled to a trial where he can argue his case. Then you can imprison him.”

Walker huffed. He nearly stopped a foot in rage. Instead, he marched forward, staring Ruby down. Hilarious, considering that he towered Ruby by a good half foot. Yet Ruby wasn’t intimidated. She met his stare with the same non pulsed expression. “He BROKE THE RULES! I don’t know what you think you’re doing, trying to cause a ruckus to get him out of his sentence. It won’t work on me! In the Ghost Zone, I am the JUDGE, the EXECUTIONER, the JURY, JAILER, AND THE EXECUTIONER!”

Ruby kept her expression set. She turned to another page in the book, not looking away from Walker. “Denial is not one of the Five Rivers of the Underworld.”

“I don’t have to listen to this. He’s my prisoner, and what I say goes!” Walker demanded.

“Then you were planning on informing the Observants of the arrest?” Ruby prompted. “Due to the case of Ethae the Thin Clown v the Ancients, it was decided that all arrests made by a ghost with powers over prison settings would report said arrests to the Observants to keep up with the spirit of due process.”

“I know that law, punk!” Walker snapped. “And I know that the Observants can see everything-”

“Two definitions weren’t enough. I am also in no way connected to rock music.” Ruby noted. “Also, the Observants  _ oversee  _ everything. For their records, they would still need a written report. To call up in the event of parole or a fellow ghost asks for a mistrial. In the events of the Sad Necromancer v Observants, there was no written report of his arrest since he was released on a technicality.”

Walker hissed. “You’re playing a dangerous game, punk.”

“There’s only one definition left...and given that it was meant for prison slang it’s probably what you’ve been calling me all along...are you implying I am a passive male homosexual?” Ruby asked, looking genuinely confused. “Sir I don’t mean to offend you when I ask...but are you aware that I’m a woman?”

Walker hissed. “Get. Out.”

==COG==

Ruby proudly walked out of the room. She had Danny’s Dad’s present in her arms, letting it float behind her while the two walked the halls of the prison towards the exit.

“There was the angle of you committing multiple felonies as a human that I could’ve used, that you were escaping into the Ghost Zone like an escaped convict. But since he ruined that by not even treating you or the other fairly, I got to be all lawyer about it.”

“I’ve committed Earth crimes?”

“Any crime I could pin on you I would.”

“Do any of them actually apply?”

“Do you know how bad the prison state is in America? The prison system is a  _ joke. _ People take on crimes they never committed to get out of being punished for heavier sentences. It’s why the system is just overloaded with cases that it doesn’t need, including non-violent offenders being hit with heavier sentences and violent offenders getting off  _ scot free- _ ”

“Okay, okay! Geez. Forget I asked.” Danny winced, rubbing his neck. Ruby smiled innocently. “You’re terrifying.”

“And you hired me.” Ruby smiled tightly again. She stopped in front of a metal door, eyeing it. She shifted into Freddy.

Danny yelped. “Whoa hey you should-” 

Freddy walked through the door. Her human self phasing as if it was the human world. She had walked into the cafeteria.

Danny followed after, his hair black. “I...didn’t know you could do that.”

Freddy smiled. “I see a lot of injustice happening here...oh I could do something with that.” She handed the box over to Danny.

The other ghosts in the room turned to the door. They noticed their two foes standing there, defenseless.

“Freddy?”

“In the event of a ghost doing harm to a fellow ghost, they are allowed to be imprisoned in the defendant’s lair if the lair has the accommodations.” Freddy reported. She smiled in a way that gave her golden eyes a mad glint. “However if the accused has done no wrong and are wrongly imprisoned, the accused can take whatever they want from their accuser. Including other prisoners. I’m paraphrasing, are you getting the point?”

Danny eyed the ghost guards, glaring down at Danny. “Yeah I think so.” He pointed back to the door. “But how did we-”

“BONZAI!” Freddy lashed out at the closest guard, wrestling him to the ground to grab the baton in his hands. “HEY GHOSTS! FIGHT THE OPPRESSORS! RUN WHILE THEY CAN’T STOP YOU!”

Silence.

“RIOT!” Freddy yelled with a huff.

That had all of them screaming in agreement. 

==COG==

Walker has tried to arrest them again. Sam and Tucker came to save their asses.

Freddy gave Ghost Writer a copy of her favorite werewolf book. 

Everyone got a happy ending.

Which is when Penelope Spectra  _ had _ to come by.

==COG==

Freddy was aware of how abnormal she was. There was no hiding it. In the past, she had thought about visiting a therapist. She decided against it, as she couldn’t explain to a therapist that the young childlike Morgan Spencer was actually 57 years old with reality walking powers that made her feel  _ lonely _ .

It felt a bit lackluster so say out loud.

So she talked to herself, tried to handle all issues in-house. It was a skill she’d improved a lot over the years. Freddy didn’t think she was in any way okay, just that something was better than nothing.

She had talked herself down a lot of edges.

Penelope Spectra would not be the final nail in her half dug coffin.

==COG==

Spectra had been here for only a few days. The student body was steadily becoming less peppy. Bertrand was also an issue, on account of him turning into a murder hornet. Freddy could’ve gone without killer insects, thank you.

Spectra also took away Freddy’s ability to insult her friends. It was hard to give them a good natured zinger when all her zingers were about how pathetic and useless they were. That’s just what friends did to each other, according to Freddy’s analysis on the subject. This meant Freddy/Ruby had to be  _ nice. _

_ “I should’ve gone intangible. Idiot!” _

_ “Mistakes are fine. It didn’t even wound us. But it’s coming back for another round so DODGE!” _

In the end, Spectra and Bertrand were getting the upper hand. This infuriated Freddy, who was of the belief if anyone was gonna passive aggressively insult her friends it was gonna be her!

He wore a backpack with straps on the back, he deserved to be mocked. But any mocking like that would’ve made him remember Spectra’s lies. Freddy couldn’t make fun of that backpack. She was setting in fire later in the week in retaliation.

Freddy was able to step up in Danny’s defense for it, though. Screw Spectra’s plans, Freddy had a camera phone.

_ “I was gonna use it to make fun of his backpack, but then I saw it got caught in the fire alarm.”  _ She told Lancer, showing him the image from her phone.  _ “Danny’s right. He didn’t do it, Mr Lancer.” _

The teacher paused, then accepted her word. A glimmer of annoyance passed Spectra’s face.

Later that day, Freddy was being outfitted with a diaper and a school spirit hat. She didn’t completely understand the why, only that Spectra had convinced Lancer that Freddy was the perfect girl for the job. Since Freddy showed such school spirit in defending the truth, or some bullshit like that.

Freddy reminded herself not to care. Especially not when the cheerleaders came in to talk about the new cheer. Their laughs were just for Spectra’s benefit. She also ignored Spectra’s nails digging into her shoulder. 

One thing that did get her was Tucker showing her the pictures.

_ “Hey Tucker. Can I see those?” _

_ “Sure thing, Fred-”  _ There was a small electrical static that followed.  _ “My baby!” _

_ “You’re next, Foley.”  _ Freddy warned him in a voice as sweet as her ice cream. Red sparks danced around her fingers.

_ “I will be fine.” _ Tucker lied with the face of a man who didn’t want to die.

Also, Jazz caught her and Danny transforming. Freddy didn’t mind. She wanted Jazz to find out. At least Jazz would want to talk psychology babble with her.

==COG==

“What’s she got to be so peppy about?” Danny sneered at his sister. Jazz was happily walking down the hallway, greeting everyone with a smile that wasn’t returned.

“Beats me. I’m usually the sour one around here.” Sam replied. “Compared to everyone else, I’m the goth bird of happiness.”

“Me too.” Tucker cheered.

“I’m usually the sarcastic jerk who will make fun of you and your family.” Freddy stated. She glanced around the hall at the other students. “It’s no fun mocking them when they’re already down.”

“We’re the only two people in this school who haven’t had a session with Dr. Spectra.” Tucker explained. “Freddy went, and I don’t get-”

“It wasn’t a formal session. She just told me I need to stop caring what others think of me.” Freddy replied. “Which I don’t, like ever, so it was a moot argument.”

They all turned to Freddy.

“Wait. Let me see something.” Danny grabbed Tucker’s PDA. He pulled up the picture of Freddy in the baby costume.

She gave Tucker a flat stare. He held up his hands. “I plead the fifth.”

“That’s only silence. There’s nothing in that saying I can’t punch you.” Freddy corrected.

“Look at this.” Danny showed them the picture. Sometimes, if the ghost got close enough, you could see Freddy’s ghost sense. Little sparks of red on her clothes, or in the air around her. Most people wrote it off as a trick of the light. “Freddy, what is this?”

“A trick of the light from Tucker’s camera.” Freddy excused. “I mean it can’t...it was my ghost sense, wasn’t it?” She lied, very easily she would like to add.

“I keep thinking that I’m just seeing my breath in Spectra’s office.” Danny added. “That it was just cold. But what if it’s not? What if Spectra’s making people more miserable? What if...she’s a ghost?”

Freddy nodded. “That could make sense...but she’s corporal. I’ve seen her touch human students, and Mr Lancer.”

“Maybe it’s a disguise.” Danny reasoned.

“The green ghosts we’ve been fighting...what if they were disguises too?” Freddy wondered. “You’ve been beating yourself up after every fight worse than that thing ever did. It could be Spectra- or that weird mini butler of her’s. It all makes sense- given that she wears more makeup that Paulina on date night.”

They all stared at her for a long moment.

“Freddy.” Sam prompted. “How would you like to talk to Dr Spectra for ten minutes?”

“Probably...wait ten minutes or _ ‘ten minutes’ _ ?” Freddy prompted.

“There’s a difference?” Danny asked.

“The second one.” Tucker requested.

Freddy nodded. “Received and understood. I will crush Spectra’s soul, if she has one, until she wishes she was as dead as her wrinkles imply.”

“Yeah you are definitely who we’re sending in.” Tucker nodded.

“I can blow up this next PDA just as easy as the last.”

“That was a...compliment of your fighting style?”

“In which case I will steal you a better PDA.”

“Awesome!”

==COG==

They shoved her into the small office.

“Dr Spectra?” Freddy asked. “I was wondering...could we talk? For a bit?”

“Freddy Rose.” Spectra looked at one of the folders around her. “Oh yes. I have your file.”

“Does the picture look nice, or is it shitty?” Freddy asked. She tried to peek at it. “It’s one of me in the baby costume isn’t it?”

“Freddy, I told you, you’re not scared of being called a baby. You don’t want anyone thinking you’re a freak.” Spectra replied with a delicate smile.

Freddy tilted her head. “But I am a freak.”

“Now look, you can’t go around talking to yourself like that.” Spectra instructed. “Just because everyone at the school is saying that doesn’t mean you have to.”

“If putting down others makes you feel better about yourself, then who am I to stop that?” Freddy asked. “I mean, it probably helps you forget you have crows feet.”

“Crows feet?” Spectra yelped, her hand reaching up to the aforementioned condition.

“Oh drat! Silly me.” Freddy waved her hand. “I do this all the time. Accidentally insulting people. It’s probably why I don’t have any friends. Hard to befriend someone when I’m telling them their pant suit makes their hips look fat.”

Spectra seemed to be fighting the urge to check her own hips. She kept a hard stare on an unperturbed Freddy. The halfa took the stare in stride, she’d been stared at by darker creatures then the one across from her. “No friends? Poor thing. Everybody must hate you.”

“Course they hate me. Even  _ I _ hate me. That doesn’t make them special.” Freddy argued.

“You must be so...lonely...without friends. Isn’t that the most important thing at your age?” Spectra questioned.

“You’re implying I want to be friends with these idiots in the first place.” Freddy countered. “High school is no good place to make good friends. These kids aren’t anything I want to make friends with.”

“I’ve seen you hanging around with...what were their names.” Spectra checked another few files. “Danny Fenton! Oh that poor boy. You’ve clearly been no help to his self-esteem.”

Freddy wouldn’t lie. That one actually hurt. She couldn’t stop her hands from clenching in her lap. She internally scolded herself for showing Spectra weakness.

Worse yet was that Spectra caught it. That wave of self-deprecation, of shame, the pain that came from that one simple statement.

“Clearly you have this desire to constantly be useful. Pity is you’re useless. I mean look at this record!” Spectra picked up the file. The one that Freddy had lied about when she first signed herself up for this school. So Freddy was automatically dismissing anything Spectra was saying from it. “Your grades are all over the place, and you can’t stay in one place for long.”

“Yeah I’m a mess.” Freddy replied with a smile. “And I’ve always had a wandering soul. It’s hard to feel educationally challenged when my classmates are arguing about who kissed who behind the bleachers, or why the counselor has grey hair behind her head.”

“No I don’t!” Spectra’s eye twitched.

Freddy took a small calming breath. “My apologies, Dr Spectra. You were saying about h-how useless I am?” She added a hitch in her breath on the next exhale. Let Spectra think she was beginning to crack, that she was falling apart.

“Well you are.” Spectra went on, focusing on Freddy more intently.

Freddy was starting to feel it. Her ghost sense was going off again. It was sending small red sparks through her body, making them flicker with each movement. She could feel Spectra’s powers working on her. Her worst emotions were starting to come to the surface. Every bad thought she’d ever had, getting stronger and stronger. 

“Your friends- they aren’t friends are they? Real friends would have told you by now that you’re useless.” Spectra explained.

_ “Why can’t you do something- anything, you’re the worst cheerleader on the team!” “But Mom, I don’t even wanna be one.” “Well just quit standing there being useless!” _

“They probably know you’re a freak. There’s no changing that. If you’re a freak now, you’re a freak forever.”

_ “You’re such a freak, Morgan.” “You call me that yesterday.” “Well you still are a freak.” _

**_If only there was something...someway..._ **

“Why are you even here? I have way too busy a schedule to handle a case like your’s. Nobody can help you, sweetie.”

**_We should find a way to make her shut her mouth._ **

“Well that’s all for-”

“Paulina was right to call you an old lady.” Freddy stated.

At Spectra’s too sweet smile, Freddy pushed herself out of her chair. She stormed outside. The door slammed shut behind her. Spectra’s sickly sweet laugh followed.

**_Shut her mouth...throw her into the deepest scariest part of the Ghost Zone we can find...break her down like she’s broken everyone here._ **

**_Like she’s breaking Danny._ **

**_Morgan could do that._ **

**_Morgan could break Spectra apart._ **

“How did it go?”

Freddy was surprised out of her thoughts to see Danny and friends standing in front of her. There wasn’t anytime. She had to work fast. “Come on.” She shifted into her ghost self, grabbing Danny by the hands.

==COG==

“Let go of us!” Danny yelled at Spectra.

Her ghost form was so different from her human disguise. This was a tall thin black shadow, with red eyes. She had lashed out against Danny and Ruby. They had heard of Spectra and Bertrand’s plan to kill Jazz, then feed off the misery her death caused.

**_Morgan could almost commend them for it. The plan was so ingenious- it made for sure nobody would feel joy. They’d watch someone die. That never goes well for kids._ **

“Why should I?” Spectra countered. “Your doubts, you miseries, it’s delicious!”

Ruby hissed at her. She was trying and failing to kick at Spectra to let them go. Spectra held tight to them. She brought them to a window overlooking the gym. 

“And the best part is, as soon as that silly speech is over and that last domino falls and the sparklers vaporize the speaker, we’ll leave you two here to take the blame!” Spectra cheered.

Ruby hissed. “By the time I’m done with the both of you, you’ll be sure it was all your faults!” Spectra mocked.

**_No...no you wouldn’t...I’ll kill you if you hurt Jazz, if you hurt Danny. There won’t be anything left of you, Spectra_ **

“I am so tired of you, dumping on me.” Danny argued. “And I am so tired of dumping on myself. Jazz never did that, even when I was mad at her.”

Ruby tried to take calming breaths. She could feel it, beneath her skin. It wanted  _ out _ . It wanted to break  _ free _ \- to wreak  _ havoc  _ on her foes. She could do it. She would  _ enjoy it. _

She was tired of people mocking her.

She was tired of letting herself be walked over.

“And I won’t let her down!” Danny yelled.

At the same time, he and Ruby let loose their powers. Spectra was thrown back in flashes of red and blue.

Ruby was  _ pissed. _

“Bertrand, sic ‘em!” Spectra ordered.

The butler went off towards Danny. He had the Thermos, he was fine.

Ruby has other issues. She flew out at Spectra. 

The black shadow laughed. She scratched a claw towards Ruby. The red halfa stretched out a smile, a mad glint in her reddish eyes. 

“I’ll find you again someday.” Ruby warned. “And then? I’ll fucking  **_end you.”_ **

Since the shadow has no real expressions, it was hard to see how Spectra felt about that. Given that her red eyes went wide Ruby figured she’d gotten the message.

She grabbed Spectra by the neck, squeezing just tight enough.

“I’m just ghost enough to  _ crush you like a bug.” _ Ruby sneered. “That’s what you are inside. An ugly little bug not worthy of being gunk on my boot.”

With her fist sparking with lightning, she used it on the shadow then threw her at a wall. 

She could hear Danny. Distantly, Ruby knew he was going to save Jazz from ‘spirit sparklers’. Ruby was grateful for the assist. It left her more focus to wipe out Spectra’s afterlife.

As she flew over to hit Spectra again, she saw the Fenton siblings together. Jazz was smiling proudly at her brother. Danny was trying not to get too close, just in case she figured out it was him.

Spectra saw the moment of weakness between them. Spectra was gonna try to hurt them.

Ruby wasn’t useless. She could stop it. She dashed in front of Danny, letting herself get caught by the shadow.

“Ruby!” Danny yelled, rushing at Spectra.

There was a hand on her throat, squeezing. Ruby was clawing at the shadow arm. Spectra’s other arm grabbed at Danny, slamming him against the wall beside Ruby. 

“Look at the pair of you!” Spectra taunted. She used her ghost tail to knock away the Thermos. “What are you? Ghosts trying to fit in with humans, or some creepy little kids with creepy little powers?”

“Both.” Danny answered. “Neither!”

“Shut up shut up shut up!” Ruby yelled at Spectra.

“You’re FREAKS!”

**_‘Let’s see how her superpowers save her from this!’ The bullies taunted._ **

“Not a ghost, not a boy or a girl-”

**_Morgan remembered falling. Down and down the stairs, her head breaking her fall. Oh...what if she had died then? Could she even die? At this point, she doubted._ **

“Who cares for things like  _ you _ ?”

**_She remembered nobody tried to stop it. And her parents never yelled at the kids who pushed her. They only yelled at Morgan to stop being clumsy._ **

Spectra dropped them both on the ground. Ruby was feeling drained, every good thought she’d ever had felt further away. Any time she tried grabbing it, the joy fell apart like sand in her hand. 

All that was left was the bad.

Bad... _ bad... _ **_bad..._ **

“Excuse me.” Jazz interrupted. All three ghosts looked her way. “I don’t know those kids, but I hope it’s okay if they get a second opinion.”

She pulled out the Fenton Ghost Peeler. She activated the oddly designed metal suit, firing it at Spectra.

The ghost screamed as her shadow fell. More and more layers peeled away, exposing a ghost with wrinkly skin and aged to great-grandmother level. 

“Talk about having nothing within.” Danny joked.

Ruby laughed- suddenly relieved to find it in her to laugh at all.

“No! I’m nothing without my youth!” Spectra cried out. 

“Actually.” Ruby grabbed the Thermos off Danny. “You’re nothing with it too.”

She sucked the therapist into the Thermos. She smirked as she closed the cap over the top.

“Hey it worked.” Jazz praised as the Fenton Peeler deactivated. “But it’s still weird.”

She walked over to a relieved pair of halfas. Jazz smiled proudly at them, especially her brother, before ‘gasping’.

“Ah! Ghosts!” Jazz pretender to cry out. She ran to the door, pausing. “You’d better go.”

Ruby nodded. “Come on, Phantom.” 

“Huh? Oh. Right.” Danny replied.

Together, they went intangible then flew up into the ceiling.

The pep rally went out without another hitch. If anything, it was going better than before. 

==COG==

Ruby used her powers to fly around in the night sky. She let herself relax, to let herself enjoy the night air without stress.

She let herself relax.

Because if Freddy let herself feel joy...reminded herself that she had good...then she wouldn’t fall so easily into the bad.

**_For now..._ **

**Author's Note:**

> Tada! Morgan has experienced the Danny Phantom universe! I’ve wanted to write her in this universe since I started writing the character back in 2013!  
> Please tell me what you thought. This was a big deal to me, and I want to know how you feel about it! Parts you liked, parts you didn’t. I want to hear your words! Also at the top, I asked for if anything in here was triggering. If that’s all you wanted to say then please say it!  
> Part 2 will come out in a month with the rest of season 1.


End file.
